Insiders, including at centrist think tank Third Way, are cautioning Democratic candidates against echoing Republican talking points on trans rights.
Insiders, including at centrist think tank Third Way, are cautioning Democratic candidates against echoing Republican talking points on trans rights.
I was literally saying the opposite of the way you interpreted this.
I was pointing out that people who have literally no memory of ever interacting with a transgender person probably shouldn’t be focusing on whether transgender people are a danger to them, and should instead be focusing on the fact that people aren’t able to afford the basic things they need to live.
You mean you meant to say the opposite of this. What you literally said is that transgender issues have less gravity than those other (interlinked, interdependent) issues. It’s a narrative that also conveniently discards the reality that any queerphobia is pathologized to avoid more nuanced discussions on the material conditions of capitalism.
Liberals often say the wrong thing trying to dunk on a perceived opponent, and they just use language that inadvertently promotes the values they supposedly disagree with. What exactly did you think would be read out of, “if you are thinking about transgender people instead of unsheltered people, you’re mentally ill?”
I mean I said what I said, and a majority of people who read it understood it.
I’m sorry that you weren’t among them.
I was referring to the right-wingers obsessed with transgender people in sports.
And now that you know that, feel free to delete your shitty little uninformed comments that you’ve littered all over this page attacking me for expressing support for transgender people.
You’re not supporting trans people. Full stop. I explained why, you’re choosing to again not support trans people.
And now that you know that, feel free to edit your original comment to address the harm in it.
You didn’t express support for transgender people. You said that anyone who’s not trans shouldn’t be thinking about them.
Okay, first off, no, I said something incredibly specific that was absolutely NOT what you accused me of saying. I’m going to quote it here:
In no way is this saying that people shouldn’t be thinking about transgender people. It’s just factually not saying that.
What it is saying is that if you see those other things and your brain still can’t help but focus on transgender people, then you’re either transgender yourself, or you’re mentally ill.
As someone who cares about others, when I see people starving, parents who can’t afford to feed their children, and people who can’t afford to pay for gas, I’m sorry, but transgender people are NOT at the center of my thoughts, and I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s justified for anyone to expect transgender people to be at the center of my thoughts when I see those things. The thing at the center of my thoughts is to make sure that everyone has their basic needs met.
But there are people who see all of that, and they STILL want to act like transgender women in sports is a big important issue that they need to be focusing all of their attention on.
Do you disagree that that perspective is mental illness?
And I’m going to ask you a serious question:
I’m assuming you’re transgender.
Do you assume that cisgender people who care about transgender people are focusing primarily on transgender people when they’re living their own lives and are unable to feed themselves, unable to pay for gas, unable to pay for healthcare, unable to meet their basic needs?
Because I’m going to tell you that no, they’re not.
You absolutely ARE a concern. We want you to be able to live. We want you to be okay.
But you are not the only ones in danger right now. There are A LOT of people in danger right now. We aren’t just focused on the small micro groups within the people who are in danger. We are thinking of THE WHOLE of the people who are in danger.
But you know who IS thinking of you? The people who keep making motions to create laws to hurt you, and the people who they’re brainwashing into supporting them.
And by the way, I am absolutely NOT a liberal.
You are wasting both of our time by trying to start a conflict with me. I am literally one of the people who would be the most likely to support you. I’m not transgender, but I absolutely AM autistic, and that group has A LOT more transgender people in it than the general population. And since I’m autistic, I am also one of the people who is in danger from the people in power right now.
Please stop attacking me and stop wasting both of our time. We both have much more pressing issues right now than attacking each other.
You drastically misrepresented who I am and then you doubled down on it, which is ironic, given the way that others have treated you. I am not someone who would treat you like that. I am sorry you’re suffering. I very sincerely hope for better for you in the future. But please have an understanding that you can be incorrect about who you’re interacting with. This interaction is the kind of interaction that the people who hate you will use to parody you and to make you look bad, and I very truthfully believe that you deserve better in your life than that.
You’ve made a lot of incorrect assumptions in that long screed.
Guess what?
I’m not trans.
I’m not mentally ill.
I think it’s worth thinking about the erasure and maltreatment of trans people.
I’m not going to let you do it without pointing it out.
Fascists start with the most vulnerable members of society, and they tell the rest of society that they can’t have relief from their own problems like shortages of food and housing until they leave behind those people.
You’re falling into that trap, and it’s especially sad since you too are part of a group that they’ll say should be left behind. They already consider autistic people as damaged as trans people, it’s the dark current underlying the antivax narrative.
It’s not only possible to care about trans people, people with disabilities, abortion rights, mail-in voting, homeless people, immigrants, healthcare inequity, poverty, food insecurity, and worker abuse at the same time, it’s easy because they all come down to the same essential thing.
Taking away from one of us takes from all of us. To forget that is to forswear your own humanity.
OH JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
I NEVER SAID TO LEAVE TRANSGENDER PEOPLE BEHIND.
WHEN WILL YOU AND THE OTHER PERSON GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEADS?
I SUPPORT FULLY PROTECTING TRANSGENDER RIGHTS!
I SUPPORT FULL RIGHTS TO TRANSITION INCLUDING CHILDREN HAVING ACCESS TO PUBERTY BLOCKERS!
I SUPPORT GOING TO THE MAT AND FIGHTING FOR TRANSGENDER RIGHTS!
READ WHAT I ACTUALLY WROTE, NOT WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO HAVE WRITTEN!
I AM NOT A LIBERAL AND I DO NOT SUPPORT PEOPLE LIKE HAKEEM JEFFRIES OR CHUCK SCHUMER!
I AM WAY THE HELL LEFT OF THEM!
LITERALLY EVERYTHING I SAID WAS THAT THE RIGHT-WINGERS OBSESSED WITH TRANSGENDER PEOPLE ARE MENTALLY ILL, NOT THAT TRANSGENDER PEOPLE OR THEIR FRIENDS ARE FAMILIES ARE MENTALLY ILL!
FOR GOD’S SAKE, READ WHAT I SAID! YOU THINK YOU’RE ARGUING AGAINST SOMEONE WHO WOULD THROW TRANSGENDER PEOPLE UNDER THE BUS AND I HAVE NO INTENTION OF DOING SO! I AM THE KIND OF PERSON WHO HAS BEEN OUT THERE GOING TO ACTUAL PROTESTS WEEK AFTER WEEK AND GETTING THE WORD OUT AND TRYING TO HELP! I AM FOR GIVING TRANS KIDS PUBERTY BLOCKERS AND LETTING THEM TRANSITION WHENEVER THEY ARE TELLING THEIR PARENTS THEY ARE TRANS. AND I AM FOR PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF KIDS TO TRANSITION IN SCHOOL WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS’ NAMES, BECAUSE KIDS ARE HUMAN BEINGS AND ARE NOT THE PROPERTY OF THEIR PARENTS!
I AM PROBABLY A LOT FARTHER LEFT THAN YOU!
READ WHAT I AM SAYING!
READ WHAT I AM SAYING!
READ WHAT I AM SAYING!
READ WHAT I AM SAYING!
READ WHAT I AM SAYING!
Don’t engage, they’re someone who assumes they’re right because they don’t want to be wrong, there’s nothing there besides what they want to be, and they’ve made it clear they don’t care much about the issue.
I don’t mind engaging. I may not be able to change them, but maybe there’s a kid out there feeling a little less alone. Or another person who just needs to be reminded that “evil starts with treatin’ people as things.”
I’ve voted against hate and towards body autonomy in every election large or small since 1978, and while it’s been 2 steps back for every step forward, that’s no reason to give up.